About Tom MacDonald

WHYY reporter Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the region since the mid-1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.

Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.

He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post-9/11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the area since the mid 1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.

Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.

He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post 9-11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the area since the mid 1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.

Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.

He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post 9-11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) has proposed two bills to mandate independent inspections. Rail bridges would get scrutiny every two years and freight rail-switching systems every six months.

Andrews believes the derailment and vinyl chloride spill in Paulsboro could have been prevented if there had been an independent inspection.

"We listened to people from the industry we looked at academic studies, we looked at reports from the National Transportation Safety Board and did not want to over-regulate," he said. 'It doesn't serve anyone interest to create a new government bureaucracy drving up the cost of goods and not improve safety, our bill is targeted at the two most glaring defects, which are the switches and the bridges are self inspected."

Andrews, who represents Paulsboro, says the inspections are key to making the freight railways safe.

"I want the railroads to be profitable and prosperous that's good for the country but I don't want a safety decision to take a backseat to a profit decision," he said.

Conrail, who controls the Paulsboro bridge where the derailment occurred declined comment on the matter. The Association of American Railroads also did not comment on the proposed bills.

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